Public acceptability of nudging and taxing to reduce consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and food: A population-based survey experiment
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
There is growing evidence for the effectiveness of choice architecture or ‘nudge’ interventions to change a range of behaviours including the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and food. Public acceptability is key to implementing these and other interventions. However, few studies have assessed public acceptability of these interventions, including the extent to which acceptability varies with the type of intervention, the target behaviour and with evidence of intervention effectiveness. These were assessed in an online study using a between-participants full factorial design with three factors: Policy (availability vs size vs labelling vs tax) x Behaviour (alcohol consumption vs tobacco use vs high-calorie snack food consumption) x Evidence communication (no message vs assertion of policy effectiveness vs assertion and quantification of policy effectiveness [e.g., a 10% change in behaviour]). Participants (N = 7058) were randomly allocated to one of the 36 groups. The primary outcome was acceptability of the policy. Acceptability differed across policy, behaviour and evidence communication (all ps < .001). Labelling was the most acceptable policy (supported by 78%) and Availability the least (47%). Tobacco use was the most acceptable behaviour to be targeted by policies (73%) compared with policies targeting Alcohol (55%) and Food (54%). Relative to the control group (60%), asserting evidence of effectiveness increased acceptability (63%); adding a quantification to this assertion did not significantly increase this further (65%). Public acceptability for nudges and taxes to improve population health varies with the behaviour targeted and the type of intervention but is generally favourable. Communicating that these policies are effective can increase support by a small but significant amount, suggesting that highlighting effectiveness could contribute to mobilising public demand for policies. While uncertainty remains about the strength of public support needed, this may help overcome political inertia and enable action on behaviours that damage population and planetary health.
Date Issued
2019-09-01
Date Acceptance
2019-07-01
Citation
Social Science and Medicine, 2019, 236, pp.1-10
ISSN
0277-9536
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1
End Page
10
Journal / Book Title
Social Science and Medicine
Volume
236
Copyright Statement
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licence/BY/4.0/).
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953619303818
Subjects
Public Health
1117 Public Health and Health Services
1601 Anthropology
1608 Sociology
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2019-07-02